Porous stabilized beds, methods of manufacture thereof and articles comprising the same

ABSTRACT

Disclosed herein is a method comprising disposing a first particle in a reactor; the first particle being a magnetic particle or a particle that can be influenced by a magnetic field, an electric field or a combination of an electrical field and a magnetic field; fluidizing the first particle in the reactor; applying a uniform magnetic field, a uniform electrical field or a combination of a uniform magnetic field and uniform electrical field to the reactor; elevating the temperature of the reactor; and fusing the first particles to form a monolithic solid.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Continuation Application of Ser. No. 15/910,052filed on Mar. 2, 2018 (U.S. Pat. No. 10,991,490 issued on Apr. 27,2021), which is a Divisional application of Ser. No. 14/131,357 filedJun. 13, 2014 (U.S. Pat. No. 9,966,171 issued on May 18, 2018), whichclaims the benefit of PCT Application No. PCT/US2012/045698 filed onJul. 6, 2012 which claims priority to U.S. Application No. 61/505,890,filed on Jul. 8, 2011, which are incorporated herein by reference intheir entirety.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR SUPPORT

This invention was made with Government support under DE-FE0001321awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy/National Energy TechnologyLaboratory (NETL). The Government has certain rights in this invention.

BACKGROUND

Fluidized beds comprising magnetic particles are often used to drivehigh temperature chemical reactions. In order to produce a fluidized bedthat contains magnetic particles, the magnetic particles are disposedupon a substrate and then sintered together. During the sinteringprocess however, the particles that form the substrate fuse together toproduce a clump of a metal oxide that has a very low surface area andthat can no longer be fluidized. The FIG. 1 illustrates the sinteringprocess. In the FIG. 1 , it can be seen that powder particles that havemagnetic particles disposed thereon are sintered and fuse together toform a clump of a metal oxide that has a very low surface area. This lowsurface area clump of metal oxide is unsuitable for supporting chemicalreactions and cannot be fluidized.

It is therefore desirable to develop methods for manufacturingmonolithic beds that have a high porosity and surface area, and that canfunction in a manner similar to fluidized beds. It is desirable for themonolithic solid bed section to be used for conducting chemicalreactions.

SUMMARY

Disclosed herein is a method comprising disposing a first particle in areactor; the first particle being a magnetic particle or a particle thatcan be influenced by a magnetic field, an electric field or acombination of an electrical field and a magnetic field; fluidizing thefirst particle in the reactor; applying a uniform magnetic field, auniform electrical field or a combination of a uniform magnetic fieldand a uniform electrical field to the reactor; elevating the temperatureof the reactor; and fusing the first particles to form a monolithicsolid.

Disclosed herein too is a method comprising disposing a first particlein a reactor, the first particle being a magnetic particle or a particlethat can be influenced by a magnetic field, an electric field or acombination of an electrical field and a magnetic field; fluidizing thefirst particle in the reactor; applying a uniform magnetic field, auniform electrical field or a combination of a uniform magnetic fieldand a uniform electrical field to the reactor; disposing a plurality ofreactants into the reactor; elevating the temperature of the reactor toreact the reactants in the reactor; and fusing the first particles toform a monolithic solid.

Disclosed herein too is an article comprising a monolithic solidcomprising a plurality of metal particles fused together in the form ofaligned chains; the monolithic solid being porous.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a depiction of the fusing of particles that generally occursin conventional fluid bed reactors;

FIG. 2 is a depiction of an exemplary set up for producing themonolithic solid;

FIG. 3A is a scanning electron microscope image of several iron powderparticles prior to the start of the reaction:

FIG. 3B is a scanning electron microscope image of silica particlesprior to the start of the reaction;

FIG. 4 is a depiction of the set-up used in the Example 1;

FIG. 5A displays a scanning electron microscope image of a small sampleof the magnetically stabilized porous structure using the iron andsilica particles listed in Table 1 at a first magnification;

FIG. 5B displays a scanning electron microscope image of a small sampleof the magnetically stabilized porous structure using the iron andsilica particles listed in Table 1 at a second magnification that islower than the first magnification of the FIG. 5A;

FIG. 6 is a graph showing hydrogen production rate data for 100 grams ofiron (mixed with 105 grams of silica) during seven consecutiveoxidation/reduction cycles;

FIG. 7A shows the hydrogen fractional yield for four consecutiveoxidation/reduction cycles at 800° C.;

FIG. 7B shows the hydrogen fractional yield for the next fourconsecutive oxidation/reduction cycles at 800° C.,

FIG. 8 shows the carbon dioxide fractional yield for eight consecutiveoxidation/reduction cycles at 800° C. (solid lines are FY_(CO2) anddotted lines are injected CO flow rates);

FIG. 9 is a graph showing comparisons of peak hydrogen production ratesfor repeated redox cycles using different reactive materials;

FIG. 10 is a graph showing thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) results forthe oxidation of activated carbon during a temperature ramp to 1000° C.at 5° C./min; and

FIG. 11 shows photomicrographs (at two different magnifications) of themonolithic solid after the activation of carbon is completed.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being “on”another element, it can be directly on the other element or interveningelements may be present therebetween. In contrast, when an element isreferred to as being “directly on” another element, there are nointervening elements present. As used herein, the term “and/or” includesany and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

It will be understood that, although the terms first, second, third,etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, components,regions, layers and/or sections, these elements, components, regions,layers and/or sections should not be limited by these terms. These termsare only used to distinguish one element, component, region, layer orsection from another element, component, region, layer or section. Thus,a first element, component, region, layer or section discussed belowcould be termed a second element, component, region, layer or sectionwithout departing from the teachings of the present invention.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting. As used herein, thesingular forms “a,” “an” and “the” are intended to include the pluralforms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It willbe further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising,”or, “includes” and/or “including” when used in this specification,specify the presence of stated features, regions, integers, steps,operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude thepresence or addition of one or more other features, regions, integers,steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

Furthermore, relative terms, such as “lower” or “bottom” and “upper” or“top,” may be used herein to describe one element's relationship toanother element as illustrated in the Figures. It will be understoodthat relative terms are intended to encompass different orientations ofthe device in addition to the orientation depicted in the figures. Forexample, if the device in one of the figures is turned over, elementsdescribed as being on the “lower” side of other elements would then beoriented on “upper” sides of the other elements. The exemplary term“lower.” can therefore, encompass both an orientation of “lower” and“upper,” depending on the particular orientation of the figure.Similarly, if the device in one of the figures is turned over, elementsdescribed as “below” or “beneath” other elements would then be oriented“above” the other elements. The exemplary terms “below” or “beneath”can, therefore, encompass both an orientation of above and below.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientificterms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by oneof ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. It will befurther understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly useddictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that isconsistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and thepresent disclosure, and will not be interpreted in an idealized oroverly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.

Exemplary embodiments are described herein with reference to crosssection illustrations that are schematic illustrations of idealizedembodiments. As such, variations from the shapes of the illustrations asa result, for example, of manufacturing techniques and/or tolerances,are to be expected. Thus, embodiments described herein should not beconstrued as limited to the particular shapes of regions as illustratedherein but are to include deviations in shapes that result, for example,from manufacturing. For example, a region illustrated or described asflat may, typically, have rough and/or nonlinear features. Moreover,sharp angles that are illustrated may be rounded. Thus, the regionsillustrated in the figures are schematic in nature and their shapes arenot intended to illustrate the precise shape of a region and are notintended to limit the scope of the present claims.

The transition term “comprising” encompasses the transition terms“consisting of” and “consisting essentially of”

The term and/or is used herein to mean both “and” as well as “or”. Forexample, “A and/or B” is construed to mean A, B or A and B.

Various numerical ranges are disclosed herein. These ranges areinclusive of the endpoints as well as numerical values between theseendpoints. The numbers in these ranges and those on the endpoints areinterchangeable.

Disclosed herein is a monolithic solid that comprises chains of a firstparticle that is magnetic or that can be influenced by a magnetic field,an electrical field or a combination of magnetic fields and electricalfields. The magnetic fields disclosed herein are in addition to thoseproduced the earth's magnetic field. The electrical fields disclosedherein are independent of those produced by natural light (such as lightfrom the sun) and are in addition to those produced by the natural lightor light from other source of illumination (e.g., bulbs, neon lights,fluorescent lights, and the like). It is also to be noted thatcombinations of electrical and magnetic fields are in addition toelectromagnetic fields produced by natural light or light from othersource of illumination (e.g., bulbs, neon lights, fluorescent lights,and the like).

Disclosed herein too is a monolithic solid that comprises chains of afirst particle that is magnetic or that can be influenced by a magneticfield, an electrical field or a combination of magnetic fields andelectrical fields and a second particle that is non-magnetic and thatcannot be influenced by a magnetic field and/or an electrical field. Themonolithic solid is porous, has a high surface area and can be used inlieu of a fluidized bed or in addition to a fluidized bed to conductreactions. Disclosed herein too is a method of manufacturing themonolithic solid that comprises chains of the first particle that ismagnetic or that can be influenced by a magnetic field, an electricalfield or a combination of magnetic fields and electrical fields.

The method comprises fluidizing the first particles and/or the secondparticles in a fluidized bed reactor in the presence of and under theinfluence of a magnetic field that is greater than the earth's magneticfield, an electrical field or a combination of a magnetic field and anelectrical field. In one embodiment, the first particles are fluidizedby simultaneously flowing a fluid through the fluidized bed reactor, inanother embodiment, the first particles are fluidized in a static flowfield, i.e., a field where the fluid does not flow substantially, buthas a density effective to suspend the first particles. The firstparticles under the influence of the fluid and the magnetic field alignalong the magnetic field lines and/or the electrical field lines andproduce a coherent structure that comprises chains of the firstparticles. Since the aligned particle chains also repel each other dueto induced magnetization or due to induced electrical polarity, theycreate a structure that has a natural spacing among the chains toproduce a powdered structure that is porous. If the fluid flow and themagnetic/electrical field are suspended at this point, the particleswould crumble to a pile of particles. However, at this stage, under thesustained influence of the fluid flow and the magnetic field, thetemperature of the fluidized bed reactor is elevated to sinter the firstparticles together to form the monolithic solid.

The monolithic solid thus formed has a high surface area and can be usedto conduct chemical reactions at elevated temperatures. In an exemplaryembodiment, the monolithic solid can be used in a hydrogen productionlooping process. The hydrogen production rate from this monolithicstructure is improved significantly especially when compared with astandard fluidized bed, where the particles are free flowing.

The monolithic structure can be further subjected to an elevatedtemperature in the presence of a reactive gas (e.g., a carbonaceous gas)to grow carbon nanotubes in the interstices of the monolithic solid.Alternatively, other nanorods, nanowires or nanoparticles can also begrown in the interstices of the monolithic solid to increase the surfacearea. The presence of the nanorods, nanowires, nanoparticles or carbonnanotubes further increases the surface area of the monolithic solidthereby increasing the productivity rate when reactions are conducted onthe monolithic solid.

In another embodiment by using a distribution of first particle sizes orFirst particle compositions, a monolithic solid can be produced that hasa gradient in the composition with the heaviest first particles locatedat one end of the monolithic structure and the lightest particleslocated at an opposing end of the monolithic structure. The monolithicsolid can be manufactured to comprise gradients in particle size,composition and/or density.

In an alternative embodiment, by using an electrical field instead of amagnetic field, particles that are oriented by the presence of theelectrical field may be aligned in the presence of a fluid flow fieldand then fused together to form the monolithic solid. Examples of suchelectrical particles can be found in the section on electrorheologicalfluids below.

In one embodiment, the method comprises fluidizing a plurality of firstparticles that are magnetic or that can be magnetized and a plurality ofsecond particles that are non-magnetic and that cannot be magnetized.The method comprises fluidizing the plurality of first and secondparticles in a fluidized bed reactor in the presence of and under theinfluence of a magnetic field that is greater than the earth's magneticfield. Alternatively, the method comprises fluidizing the plurality offirst and second particles in a fluidized bed reactor in the presence ofand under the influence of an electrical field that is greater than anynaturally occurring electrical fields on the earth's surface.Combinations of electrical and magnetic fields can be used.

The plurality of first and the second particles under the influence ofthe fluid flow and the magnetic/electrical field align along themagnetic/electrical field lines and produce a coherent structure thatcomprises aligned chains of the first particles. Since the alignedchains also repel each other due to induced magnetization and/or due toinduced electrical polarity, they create a structure that has a naturalspacing among the chains. Following the formation of the coherentstructure, the temperature of the reactor is elevated to sinter thefirst and/or second particles together to form a monolithic solid.

In one embodiment, the first particles are fused to each other andsupport the second particles in the monolithic solid. In an alternativeembodiment, the coherent structure can be used to conduct a chemicalreaction, in which case the first particles are fused together to formthe monolithic structure. The monolithic structure thus formed can alsobe used to conduct chemical reactions at elevated temperatures. In thisembodiment, carbon nanotubes, nanorods, nanowires or nanoparticles canalso be grown in the interstices of the monolithic solid. The monolithicsolid of this embodiment can also comprise gradients in first and secondparticle composition, size, and/or density.

While this disclosure has described first and second particles, therecan be a plurality of different first particles (i.e., first particleshaving different chemical compositions) or a plurality of differentsecond particles. For example, the first particles which are susceptibleto a magnetic field can comprise one group of iron particles, anothergroup of nickel particles, and so on. Similarly, for example, the secondparticles which are non-magnetic particles can comprise one group ofsilica particles, a second group of polymer particles, and so on.

As noted above, the first particles are either magnetic particles orparticles that can be influenced by a magnetic field. Magnetic particlesare those that respond at an atomic or subatomic level to an appliedmagnetic field. For example, one form of magnetic particles can beferromagnetic particles that produce their own persistent magneticfield. Magnetic particles are those that are attracted to a magneticFeld (via paramagnetism) others are repulsed by a magnetic field (viadiamagnetism) others have a much more complex relationship with anapplied magnetic field. Non-magnetic particles are those that arenegligibly affected by magnetic fields. The magnetic state (or phase) ofa material depends on temperature (and other variables such as pressureand applied magnetic field) so that a material may exhibit more than oneform of magnetism depending on its temperature.

Magnetic particles include iron, nickel, cobalt, ferrites, rare earthmagnets or alloys thereof. Examples of alloy magnets are Alnico (amagnet alloy that comprises aluminum, iron, cobalt and nickel), samariumcobalt (SmCo) and neodymium iron boron (NdFeB), FeOFe₂O₃, NiOFe₂O₃,CuOFe₂O₃, MgOFe₂O₃, MnBi, MnSb, MnOFe₂O, or the like, or a combinationcomprising at least one of the foregoing magnetic particles. Alloys thatinclude a combination of magnetic particles and non-magnetic particlesmay also be used. The non-magnetic portion present in the alloys may bemetals, ceramics, or polymers. Exemplary magnetic particles are ironparticles.

The first particles can be present in the form of rods, tubes, whiskers,fibers, platelets, spheres, cubes, or the like, or other geometricalforms. Aggregates and agglomerates of the first particles are alsoincluded. They can have average dimensions in the nanometer range or inthe micrometer range. The nanometer range generally includes particlesizes of less than or equal to about 100 nanometers, while themicrometer range generally includes particle sizes of 100 nanometers orgreater.

The first particles generally have an average particle size of about 40to about 100 micrometers, preferably about 75 to about 90 micrometers.The average particle size is measured in terms of a diameter ofgyration.

The first particles are present in an amount of about 5 to about 100 wt%, specifically about 10 to about 90 wt %, and more specifically about20 to about 50 wt %, of the total number of first particles and secondparticles introduced into the fluidized bed reactor.

The second particles that are non-magnetic and that cannot be magnetizedcan include inorganic oxides, carbides, oxycarbides, nitrides,oxynitrides, borides, activatable carbon, or the like, or a combinationcomprising at least one of the foregoing. It is desirable for the secondparticles to be electrically insulating. Electrically insulatingparticles generally have a bulk volume resistivity that is greater thanabout 1×10¹¹ ohm-cm. Exemplary second particles are silicon dioxideparticles.

The second particles generally have an average particle size of about 20to about 100 micrometers, preferably about 50 to about 75 micrometers.The average particle size is measured in terms of a diameter ofgyration.

The second particles are present in an amount of about 0 to about 95 wt%, specifically about 90 to about 10 wt %, and more specifically about80 to about 50 wt %, of the total number of first particles and secondparticles introduced into the fluidized bed reactor.

The first particles can also be influenced by an electrical field. Thesefirst particles are electrically active. They can be ferroelectric or,made from an electrically conducting material coated with an insulator,or electro-osmotically active particles, in the case of ferroelectric orconducting material, the particles would have a high dielectricconstant. Examples of such materials are metal nanorods (e.g., aluminum)or nanotubes coated with a polymer, urea coated nanoparticles of bariumtitanium oxalate, carbon nanotubes, or the like, or a combinationcomprising at least one of the foregoing particles.

The fluid flow rate in the fluidized bed reactor during the period ofapplication of the magnetic field, the electrical field or a combinationof an electrical field and magnetic field can be from about 0.01 toabout 5 standard liters per minute.

The magnetic field is uniformly applied across the fluidized bed reactorand has a strength of about 20 to about 30) gauss.

The sintering temperature depends upon the composition of the firstparticles. The sintering temperature may be about 300 to about 2,000°C., specifically about 4) to about 1,500° C. and more specifically about500 to about 1,300° C.

In one embodiment, the first particles can be present in amagnetorheological fluid or an electrorheological fluid. The termmagnetorheological fluid encompasses magnetorheological fluids,ferrofluids, colloidal magnetic fluids, and the like. Magnetorheological(MR) fluids and elastomers are known as “smart” materials whoserheological properties can rapidly change upon application of a magneticfield. Similarly, electrorheological fluids (ER) are “smart” materialswhose rheological properties can rapidly change upon application of anelectrical field.

MR fluids are suspensions of micrometer-sized and/or nanometer-sized,magnetically polarizable particles in oil or other liquids. When a MRfluid is exposed to a magnetic field, the normally randomly orientedparticles form chains of particles in the direction of the magneticfield lines. The particle chains increase the apparent viscosity (flowresistance) of the fluid as the particles freeze into place under theinfluence of the magnetic field. The stiffness of the structure isaccomplished by changing the shear and compression/tension moduli of theMR fluid by varying the strength of the applied magnetic field. The MRfluids typically develop structure when exposed to a magnetic field inas little as a few milliseconds. Discontinuing the exposure of the MRfluid to the magnetic field reverses the process and the fluid returnsto a lower viscosity state. In this particular instance, after alignmentof the magnetic particles, the temperature of the reactor is increasedto a point where the magnetic particles are able to fuse with oneanother. When a magnetorheological fluid is used, it may not bedesirable to fluidize the particles with a moving fluid, since theparticles are already suspended a fluid.

Suitable magnetorheological fluids include ferromagnetic or paramagneticfirst particles dispersed in a carrier fluid. Suitable first particlesthat can be disposed in magnetorheological fluids include iron; ironalloys, such as those including aluminum, silicon, cobalt, nickel,vanadium, molybdenum, chromium, tungsten, manganese and/or copper; ironoxides, including Fe₂O₃ and Fe₃O₄; iron nitride; iron carbide; carbonyliron; nickel and alloys of nickel; cobalt and alloys of cobalt; chromiumdioxide; stainless steel; silicon steel; or the like, or a combinationcomprising at least one of the foregoing particles. Examples of suitableiron particles include straight iron powders, reduced iron powders, ironoxide powder/straight iron powder mixtures and iron oxide powder/reducediron powder mixtures. A preferred magnetic-responsive particulate iscarbonyl iron, preferably, reduced carbonyl iron.

Suitable carrier fluids for the MR fluid composition include organicliquids, especially non-polar organic liquids. Examples include, but arenot limited to, silicone oils; mineral oils; paraffin oils; siliconecopolymers; white oils; hydraulic oils; transformer oils; halogenatedorganic liquids, such as chlorinated hydrocarbons, halogenatedparaffins, perfluorinated polyethers and fluorinated hydrocarbons;diesters; polyoxyalkylenes; fluorinated silicones; cyanoalkyl siloxanes;glycols; synthetic hydrocarbon oils, including both unsaturated andsaturated, and combinations comprising at least one of the foregoingfluids.

The viscosity of the carrier fluid for the MR fluid composition can beless than or equal to about 100,000 centipoise, specifically less thanor equal to about 10,000 centipoise, and more specifically less than orequal to about 1,000 centipoise at room temperature. It is alsodesirable for the viscosity of the carrier fluid to be greater than orequal to about 1 centipoise, specifically greater than or equal to about250 centipoise, and more specifically greater than or equal to about 500centipoise at room temperature.

Aqueous carrier fluids may also be used, especially those comprisinghydrophilic mineral clays such as bentonite and hectorite. The aqueouscarrier fluid may comprise water or water comprising a small amount ofpolar, water-miscible organic solvents such as methanol, ethanol,propanol, dimethyl sulfoxide, dimethyl formamide, ethylene carbonate,propylene carbonate, acetone, tetrahydrofuran, diethyl ether, ethyleneglycol, propylene glycol, and the like. The amount of polar organicsolvents is less than or equal to about 5.0% by volume of the total MRfluid, and specifically less than or equal to about 3.0% Also, theamount of polar organic solvents is specifically greater than or equalto about 0.1%, and more specifically greater than or equal to about 1.0%by volume of the total MR fluid. The pH of the aqueous carrier fluid isspecifically less than or equal to about 13, and specifically less orequal to about 9.0. Also, the pH of the aqueous carrier fluid is greaterthan or equal to about 5.0, and specifically greater than or equal toabout 8.0.

Natural or synthetic bentonite or hectorite may be used. The amount ofbentonite or hectorite in the MR fluid is less than or equal to about 10percent by weight of the total MR fluid, specifically less than or equalto about 8.0 percent by weight, and more specifically less than or equalto about 6.0 percent by weight. Preferably, the bentonite or hectoriteis present in greater than or equal to about 0.1 percent by weight,specifically greater than or equal to about 1.0 percent by weight, andmore specifically greater than or equal to about 2.0 percent by weightof the total MR fluid.

Optional components in the MR fluid include clays, organoclays,carboxylate soaps, dispersants, corrosion inhibitors, lubricants,extreme pressure anti-wear additives, antioxidants, thixotropic agentsand conventional suspension agents. Carboxylate soaps include ferrousoleate, ferrous naphthenate, ferrous stearate, aluminum di- andtri-stearate, lithium stearate, calcium stearate, zinc stearate andsodium stearate, and surfactants such as sulfonates, phosphate esters,stearic acid, glycerol monooleate, sorbitan sesquioleate, laurates,fatty acids, fatty alcohols, fluoroaliphatic polymeric esters, andtitanate, aluminate and zirconate coupling agents and the like.Polyalkylene diols, such as polyethylene glycol, and partiallyesterified polyols can also be included.

Electrorheological fluids are most commonly colloidal suspensions offine particles in non-conducting fluids. Under an applied electricfield, electrorheological fluids form fibrous structures that areparallel to the applied field and can increase in viscosity by a factorof up to 10⁵. The change in viscosity is generally proportional to theapplied potential. ER fluids are made by suspending particles in aliquid whose dielectric constant or conductivity is mismatched in orderto create dipole particle interactions in the presence of an alternatingcurrent (ac) or direct current (dc) electric field. Upon creating astructured solid in the reactor (upon application of the electric field)the temperature within the reactor is increased to form the monolithicsolid that has a high surface area.

In one exemplary embodiment, in one manner of proceeding, firstparticles comprising iron are fluidized in a fluidized bed reactor usingsteam as the fluid. This is depicted in the FIG. 2 . A magnetic field isapplied to the fluidized bed reactor and freezes the iron particles intoplace. The temperature of the fluidized bed reactor is then elevated toa temperature of about 600° C. to promote sintering of the ironparticles. By stabilizing and fluidizing the bed of iron particles usinga uniform magnetic field, and sintering the particles to form themonolithic solid, it forms a high porosity, high surface area monolithicsolid that is very favorable for conducting high reactivity chemicalreactions.

In another embodiment, the first particles (that comprise a magneticmaterial) can be disposed on the second particles (that do not containthe magnetic material) to form a composite particle. The compositeparticles are placed in the fluidized bed reactor and are fluidized in aflow field. A uniform magnetic field is then applied to the fluidizedbed reactor and the bed of particles is then sintered to form themonolithic solid. The first particles may be disposed on the secondparticles using techniques such as chemical vapor deposition or solutiondeposition.

Chemical vapor deposition includes atmospheric chemical vapordeposition, low pressure chemical vapor deposition, ultrahigh vacuumchemical vapor deposition, aerosol assisted vapor deposition, directliquid injection chemical vapor deposition, microwave plasma assistedchemical vapor deposition, remove plasma enhanced chemical vapordeposition, atomic layer chemical vapor deposition, hot wire (hotfilament) chemical vapor deposition, metal organic chemical vapordeposition, combustion chemical vapor deposition, vapor phase epitaxy,rapid thermal chemical vapor deposition, hybrid physical chemical vapordeposition, or a combination comprising at least one of the foregoingprocesses. If combinations of the foregoing chemical vapor depositionprocesses are used, they may be employed simultaneously or sequentially.

In solution deposition, a metal salt (e.g., FeCl₃) is dissolved in waterto form a salt solution. The second particles (e.g., silica) are thenput into the salt solution. The water is then evaporated leaving metalsalt particles disposed on the second particles. The metal saltparticles are then reduced in a hydrogen atmosphere at an elevatedtemperature to form metal containing first particles that are disposedon second particles. These composite particles are then fluidized in thepresence of a magnetic field and then sintered to from the monolithicsolid.

As noted above, the monolithic solid has a high surface area that can beused to support reactions. In one embodiment, the monolithic solid has asurface area of about 0.1 square meters per gram to about 2000 squaremeters per gram.

The monolithic solid can be used to conduct reactions. It can also beused as a porous filter, a support system for thermal insulation, asupport system for dyes in a solar panel or a solar cell, and the like.The monolithic solid can also be used to manufacture electricallyconductive panels for use in electronics, automotive body panels,acoustic panels, and the like.

The following examples, which are meant to be exemplary, not limiting,illustrate compositions and methods of manufacturing of some of thevarious embodiments described herein.

Example 1

This example was conducted to demonstrate the manufacturing of themonolithic solid. It was also conducted to demonstrate the use of themonolithic solid to conduct reactions. The magnetically stabilized bed(which eventually formed the monolithic solid) used for the currentexample is located in the middle section of a fused quartz glass tubewith inner diameter and length of 45.4 millimeter (mm) and 600 mm,respectively. The quartz tube is capable of operating at temperatures upto 1200° C. A pre-factory installed porous quartz frit, with pore sizesranging from 20 to 90 micrometers, is placed in the middle of the quartztube to serve as the low distributor. The pressure drop across the fritis completely linear in the range of the operating gas flow (ΔP_(frit)[pa]=4800 U [m·s⁻¹]).

Commercially available iron powder (commercially available fromHoeganaes Corporation as ANCOR® MH-100) is used for the bed. Iron powderwas carefully sieved to obtain particles in the narrow size range of 63to 75 μm. Therefore, the reactor utilizes mono-disperse iron powder witha mean particle diameter of approximately 69 μm. An SEM image of severaliron powder particles prior to the start of the reaction is illustratedin FIG. 3A. For a conventional fluidized or packed bed reactor, thehydrogen production rate reaches a peak during the first oxidationcycle; however, over successive cycles, particles will sinter andmicro-scale pores within individual particles and spacing betweenneighboring particles will begin to close. This blocks most of the flowpaths and prevents steam to uniformly flow through the bed.

Both factors dramatically reduce the hydrogen production rate. Sinteringcontinuously degrades the chemically active surface area, and thehydrogen production rate is likewise degraded. After several redoxcycles the iron bed is rendered useless. In contrast, the magneticallystabilized porous structure (discussed in detail below) experiences poreclosure within individual particles during the first oxidation cycle,and yet the majority of meso-scale spacing between neighboring chains ispreserved so that the reactive surface area remains largely intact afterrepeated oxidation and reduction cycles.

Commercially pure silica particles are used as the secondarynon-magnetic particles (Sigma-Aldrich, white quartz, mean particlediameter of 90 μm). An SEM image of mono-disperse silica particles isillustrated in FIG. 1B, and the physical properties of the iron andsilica powders used in this study are listed in Table 1.

TABLE 1 Mean Diameter Material Density Powder Apparent (μm) (g/cm³)Density (g/cm³) Iron 69 (63 to 75 μm)  7.87 2.55 to 2.86 Silica 90 (75to 106 μm) 2.65 1.47 to 1.62

The set-up used in this example is depicted in the FIG. 4 . A magneticfield is applied to the reactor using two identical large permanentmagnets (15×10.5×2.5 cm) with the maximum pull of 128 N. and the fieldstrength at the surface of each magnet is 685 Gauss. A precision Gaussmeter (Model GM-2, AlphaLab, Inc.) is used for magnetic fieldmeasurements and has a resolution of 0.1 Gauss. An exponential decay ofthe magnetic field along the axis of each magnet at a distance of x₁ canbe well described by B=0.0685 exp(−21.12x₁) where B & x₁ r have units ofTesla and meters respectively. Permanent magnets are installed at twosides of the reactor. The dimensions of the magnets are much larger thanthe height or diameter of the bed so that the fringing effects of themagnetic field are negligible. These magnets produce a relativelyuniform magnetic field across the bed, where the magnetic field at theedge of the bed is less than 6% larger than that on the axis of the bed.The magnetic flux density is controlled by sliding the magnetssymmetrically toward the bed using two precision sliders and a graduatedrail, all accurately leveled. A very small magnet is installed at thetop of the tube in order to capture ultra-fine iron particles which arecarried out by the gas stream at a high superficial velocity.

A precision inclined manometer with resolution of 0.05 centimeters (cm)of water (Dwyer instruments) is used to measure the pressure drop acrossthe bed. Two micro needle valves are used for controlling the gas flowrate. Since small disturbances in now rate can change the structure ofthe bed, especially close to the minimum fluidization velocity, extremecare is given to preventing unnecessary disturbances during theadjustment of the flow rate. Three precision digital mass flow meters(Alicat Scientific, M-20SLPM-D/10M), with resolution of 0.01 standardliters per minutes (SLPM), are used to accurately measure the argon andcarbon monoxide flow rates entering the reactor and hydrogen flow rateat the discharge. At the system exit a heated capillary tube transportsthe discharge gases to a mass spectrometer for real time concentrationanalysis. An electron-ionization quadrupole mass spectrometer (Hidenmodel HPR-20) is used for ion monitoring. Prior to the experiment, themass spectrometer is calibrated for different flow rates of pure gases,while 0.15 standard liters per minute (slm) of argon is constantlyintroduced to the flow upstream of the mass spectrometer probe.

Therefore, during the example, flow rates of all gases are measured withboth a digital mass flow meter and a mass spectrometer. Crosscheckingbetween these two measurements shows that both readings are consistentwith less than a 3% difference. An in-line steam generator delivers asteady flow of steam to the reactor. The in-line steam generatorconsists of an inclined 12.7 millimeter (mm) inner diameter stainlesssteel pipe which is filled with 6 mm diameter stainless steel spheres.The stainless steel spheres within the steam generator prevent liquidslug formation and enhance the heat transfer contact area. A rope heaterin conjunction with a PID controller maintains the outer pipetemperature at 200° C.

A large syringe pump (Syringepump.com, NE-500L) is used to preciselyinject water into the top of the inclined steam generator. Injection ofwater at the top uses gravity to prevent water from being trapped at thebottom of the steam generator. The top and bottom portion of the quartzglass tube are covered with high temperature ceramic insulation forthermal stability. All the gas lines and connections have small heatersto keep the gas temperatures above 150° C. before entering the reactor.This eliminates any water condensation in any part of the system. Asmall automated cooling fan is also installed close to the reactor. Itblows cold ambient air toward the reactor when it is used to quicklyreject heat from the reactor to stabilize the temperature.

The procedure for creating the novel magnetically stabilized sinteredbed structure starts with mixing mono-disperse silica and iron particlesin an apparent volume ratio of 2 to 1 respectively. This is done bymanually mixing 100 grams of iron powder with 105 grams of silica powderin a container (powder properties are listed in Table 1 above). Theaddition of secondary non-magnetic particles (such as silica) to theoriginal iron particle batch provides several benefits: 1) theprobability of contact between neighboring iron chains is diminished, 2)the formed structure is strengthened after stabilization and sintering,and 3) the porosity of the formed structure increases.

Next the powder mixture is placed into the reactor from the top whilethe magnets are kept far away from the chamber. The minimum fluidizationvelocity for this iron/silica mixture is about 1.25 centimeters persecond (cm/sec) without any external magnetic field and increases to 1.4cm/sec for magnetic field strength of 75 gauss. By introducing inert gasat a superficial velocity much higher than the minimum fluidizationvelocity (4 to 7.5 cm/sec), the whole bed (iron/silica mixture) isfluidized and very well mixed. Such a high flow rate is necessary toinsure there are no dead-zones within the reactor and that the iron andsilica particles are well-mixed.

With the radiative ceramic heater removed and the bed in a fluidizedstate, both magnets are quickly brought close to the chamber tostabilize the bed. The resultant magnetic field at the center of thechamber is about 70 Gauss. The magnetic field creates attractive forcesamong iron particles along the magnetic field lines and repulsive forcesin a direction normal to the field lines. The external magnetic fieldcreates chains with the same magnetic polarity, distributed throughoutthe bed that repel each other in the lateral direction. The repulsiveforces provide a natural spacing among chains. Interstitial silicaparticles help to maintain separation between the iron particle chains.Under certain circumstances, small channels form in the bed structureand are visible through the chamber wall. When channeling occurs, themagnets should be moved away from the bed and then brought back close tore-stabilize the bed so that no channeling is visible. Channels must beavoided because they lead to non-uniform flow through the reactor, whichis detrimental to chemical kinetics.

The gas flow to the magnetically stabilized bed is stopped and thepre-expanded bed structure maintains its form due to the strength of themagnetic field. After the radiative ceramic heater is placed around thebed, the bed is pre-heated to 600° C. while inert argon gas passesthrough. This temperature is lower than the Curie temperature of iron(770° C.). When the temperature stabilizes, superheated steam isintroduced to the bed and the oxidation reaction proceeds. Since ironparticle chains in the bed are already aligned along the direction ofthe external magnetic field, the particles in each chain sinter to theneighboring particles and create a robust porous matrix of iron andsilica. The formed structure is stable at high temperatures and readyfor cycling at temperatures as high as 800° C. even without the presenceof the external magnetic field.

The magnetically stabilized porous structure results in a very highporosity, and a very large chemically active surface area since the bedexpansion is done using a fluidization process. The height of the formedstructure is about 8.9 cm which does not change during the progressivecycles; therefore the overall porosity and apparent density of thestructure do not change. The apparent density of the formed structure isabout 1.42 g/cm which is equivalent to a porosity value of 72%. On theother hand, pressure drop measurements across the bed show that thepermeability of the fresh mixture of iron/silica is about 1.17×10⁻¹⁰(m²), and during the first oxidation step in which the magneticallystabilized bed is formed, the permeability drops to 8.14×10⁻¹¹ (m²) andremains intact during successive cycles. The reason for the change inpermeability of the bed is due to the microscopic geometrical changesfrom particles to the sintered chains in the process of creating themagnetically stabilized bed.

FIGS. 5A and 5B display SEM images of a small sample of the magneticallystabilized porous structure using the iron and silica particles listedin Table 1 at two different magnifications. FIG. 5A displays a scanningelectron microscope image of a small sample of the magneticallystabilized porous structure using the iron and silica particles listedin Table 1 at a first magnification. FIG. 5B displays a scanningelectron microscope image of a small sample of the magneticallystabilized porous structure using the iron and silica particles listedin Table 1 at a second magnification that is lower than the firstmagnification of the FIG. 5A. FIG. 5A is at a larger magnification thanFIG. 5B. The sample has undergone 11 oxidation and reduction cycles at750° C. The sintered iron particle chains clearly align along themagnetic field lines. The diameter of each sintered chain isapproximately one iron particle diameter. The fact that the iron chainshave the same induced magnetic polarity and repel each other, preventssintering and agglomeration of the chains in the lateral direction; itis this feature of the magnetically stabilized bed that preserves thehigh reactive surface area. FIG. 5B also shows that the silica particlesfill the spaces between the iron particle chains and the whole structuremaintains porosity. The sintered porous structure is strong enough toresist the hydrodynamic shearing at high flow rates, but at the sametime the high volumetric fraction of silica particles in the structuremakes it rather brittle and can be easily broken up by moderatemechanical forces. The compressive yield strength of the porousstructure is measured to be approximately 10 kilopascals (kPa). Thestructure is useful for practical applications where there might be aperiodic need for the replacement of reactive bed.

In order to achieve repeatable and very well controlled oxidation andreduction cycles, the bed temperature and steam delivery are controlled.Since the oxidation step is highly exothermic, a significant quantity ofheat is rapidly released during the oxidation step. A sudden increase inthe bed temperature, which can exceed 100° C., is possible unless activecooling is applied. The sudden temperature rise is more noticeable asthe diameter and mass of the bed increases. To overcome this problem, aproportional integral derivative (PID) controller is used to adjust theduty cycle input to the radiative heater surrounding the quartz reactortube, and a small cooling fan is installed above the radiative heater,which blows cold ambient air toward the outside layer of insulationaround the reactor. The fan is connected to the alarm output of the PIDcontroller. The alarm output of the PID controller triggers when the bedtemperature rises about 3° C. above the temperature set-point. Using thefan for rapid cooling minimizes bed temperature fluctuations to withinas little as +6 & −3° C. during the experiments. An inclined in-linesteam generator delivers steady steam to the reactor. The steam flowrate of the in-line steam generator is solely controlled by the waterinjection rate and is independent to the system pressure dropcharacteristics. In all the experiments described in this study water isinjected into the in-line steam generator with the rate of 3grams/minute (g/min).

The total inner volume of the reactor system, including flow lines, iscalculated to be 2.1 liters. Thus, during both the oxidation andreduction steps, a small portion of production gases are trapped in thesystem and will not be registered at the discharge by either the massflow meter or mass spectrometer. By considering the operationtemperatures of different sections of the system, approximately 1.5standard liters of gases will always remain in the system after stoppingthe experiment. There is no simple way to correct the collected ratedata for these trapped gases in the system. When quantifying the totalyield, the maximum error due to trapped gasses is less than 6.0%.

Ater condensing the steam and trapping water from the product gases, thehydrogen production rates can be measured using both a mass flow meterand mass spectrometer. The hydrogen production rates for seven, out ofeleven total, consecutive cycles of the magnetically stabilized bedstructure are measured and shown in the graph in the FIG. 6 . Bothoxidation and reduction steps are done at 800° C. This temperature ishigh enough to prevent coking in the bed during the reduction step. Thereduction time for all the experiments is 5 hours. Two or threeoxidation and reduction cycles are initially needed to find theappropriate steam flow rate needed for the reaction. Considering theneed to enhance reaction kinetics and reduce energy losses, both over-and under-flowing steam are detrimental. Accordingly, during theoxidation step 3 g/min of water is injected into the in-line steamgenerator for 90 minutes. Two disturbances in the rate data associatedwith the syringe replacement can be seen in the FIG. 6 . Thesedisturbances occur at 33 and 66 minutes when the syringe runs low atwater and needs to be replaced. The procedure for syringe replacementtakes less than 15 seconds. These disturbances do not have a significanteffect on the quality of measurements since most of the hydrogenproduction occurs prior to these disturbances. After 90 minutes, thehydrogen production rate diminishes to a negligible amount. FIG. 6 showsthat the rate of hydrogen production is very consistent over repeatedcycles. The hydrogen production rate data shown in the FIG. 6demonstrates that the magnetically stabilized porous structure goesthrough eleven oxidation and reduction cycles without a noticeabledegradation in hydrogen production performance.

The fractional yield of hydrogen. FY_(H2), is defined as the totalvolume of hydrogen produced from time 0 to t normalized by the maximumvolume of the hydrogen production at STP, ∀_(H) ₂ _(,stoich), based onstoichiometric consumption of the initial mass of iron within the bed,

$\begin{matrix}{{FY}_{H_{2}} = \frac{\underset{0}{\int\limits^{t}}{{\overset{*}{Q}}_{H_{2}}{dt}}}{\forall_{H_{2}{stoich}}}} & (4)\end{matrix}$where {dot over (Q)}_(H), is the hydrogen production rate inliters/minute at standard temperature and pressure (STP) and t is thetime in minutes. FIGS. 7A and 7B shows the hydrogen fractional yield forseveral consecutive oxidation steps. FIG. 7A shows the hydrogenfractional yield for four consecutive oxidation/reduction cycles at 800°C. FIG. 7B shows the hydrogen fractional yield for the next fourconsecutive oxidation/reduction cycles at 800° C. The total hydrogenyield for different cycles ranges from 25 to 32 liters, depending on theavailable mass of the iron at the beginning of the oxidation reaction.The available mass of the iron depends on the total fractional yield ofthe preceding reduction step. In all the experiments, almost half of thetotal hydrogen production occurs during the first 10 minutes, and thesubsequent hydrogen production rate decreases substantially.

Similar trends have been obtained at reaction temperatures of 600, 700and 750° C.; but they are not shown here for brevity. At the lowertemperatures, the fractional yield after 90 minutes is smaller due toreduced reaction rates. The reactivity of a sample (0.1 gram) of themagnetically stabilized porous structure has also been analyzed using aThermogravimeter Analyzer (TGA), and the results reveal that thefractional yield (FY) is stable for more than 50 oxidation and reductioncycles.

During the reduction step, pure carbon monoxide enters the reactor and amixture of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide is discharged. A massspectrometer is used to determine the fraction of the total dischargeflow rate that is comprised of carbon dioxide. A period of 5 hours ischosen for the reduction reaction. The carbon dioxide fractional yield,FY_(CO2), is defined as the total volume of carbon dioxide produced forthe reduction period normalized by the maximum volume of carbon dioxideproduction based on complete stoichiometric conversion of magnetite toiron within the bed, ∀_(CO) ₂ _(,stoich). An equation similar toEquation (4) based on the CO₂ production rate is used to compute thecarbon dioxide fractional yield during the reduction step for eightconsecutive oxidation/reduction cycles at 800° C., and the results areshown in FIG. 8 .

In the FIG. 8 , the cycle numbers are labeled such that oxidation is thesecond step in the cycle. The total carbon dioxide yields during thereduction steps range from 14.5 to 43 liters. Therefore, during the 5hours of reduction at 800° C., between 35 to 80% of the magnetite isreduced to elemental iron, depending on the injection rate of thereducing agent, carbon monoxide, into the reactor. In all experiments,the carbon monoxide flow rate is maintained above that required forstoichiometric consumption; however, FIG. 8 clearly shows that thereaction rate for the reduction step is highly dependent on theconcentration of the carbon monoxide flowing into the reactor. The morecarbon monoxide flow rate that passes through the bed, the faster thereduction is achieved. This trend can be clearly seen in cycle 4 and thefirst 10 minutes of cycle 3 in which the carbon monoxide injection ratesare high. In both of these cases the carbon dioxide production rate (theslopes of the graphs) are significantly larger than the rest of thecycles. Note that introducing too much excess carbon monoxide mightresult in either coking or formation of iron carbide.

To ascertain the accuracy of the measurements, a mass balance betweenthe hydrogen and carbon dioxide production is considered. It isdesirable (from calculations not shown here) that the number of moles ofhydrogen and carbon dioxide produced in each cycle should be equal; thusthe total volumetric production of each should be the same. A comparisoncan be made by comparing the summation total volumetric production ofhydrogen and carbon dioxide for many consecutive cycles. An examinationreveals that the difference between the summation of the total hydrogenand carbon dioxide yields for 8 consecutive oxidation and reductioncycles is within 6% (a total of 235 liters of hydrogen versus 221 litersof carbon dioxide produced during 8 cycles).

In order to determine the performance of the disclosed reactor, it wascompared to the performance of magnetically stabilized bed reactors withother reactor configurations reported in the open literature. Hui et al.investigated the oxidation and reduction of four bimetal modified ironoxide samples and showed that the Fe₂O₃—Mo—Al sample provides thefastest hydrogen production rate. Utilizing a very small amount of thepacked sample (0.15 g) Hui el at, showed that the peak hydrogenproduction rate is about 5.6 cc/gr_(c)·min at a reaction temperature of460° C. for unmodified iron. The peak hydrogen production was about 18cc/g_(Fe)·min in the first 2 cycles and drops to about 5.7 cc/g_(Fe)·minby the 4^(th) cycle for an unmodified Fe₂O₃ sample at a reactiontemperature of 550° C. Their most stable sample, Fe₂O₃—Mo—Al, showedpeak rates of 14 cc/g_(Fe)·min at reaction a temperature of 300° C.without any noticeable degradation in the production rate over 4consecutive cycles.

Kodama et al. recently conducted a series of experiments to analyze thereactivity of nickel-ferrite and cerium materials used for a two-stepthermochemical water splitting cycle. For the thermal reduction step,metal oxide is thermally reduced for 60 minutes to release oxygenmolecules in an inert gas at atmospheric pressure and at temperaturesexceeding 1400° C. For the water splitting, oxidation step thethermally-reduced metal oxide reacts with steam for 30 minutes at 1000°C. to produce hydrogen. They showed that the total hydrogen productionis the greatest for the NiFe₂O₄/m-ZrO₂ material, although the peakproduction rate is the greatest for CeO₂. The peak hydrogen productionrate for CeO₂ during the first cycle was about 3.2 cc/(g_(material)·min)and the total hydrogen production yield remained almost unchanged duringthe first 5 cycles.

Otsuka et al examined 26 metal elements as additives to 0.2 g of ironsample and found that the decomposition of water was most stable for thereduced iron oxide with a Mo additive. The peak hydrogen production ratemeasured for pure iron was 8.98 cc/g_(Fe)·min and 15.28 cc/g_(Fe)·minwith the MO additive. The BET analysis shows that the surface area ofFe-oxide (reduction at 843° K., oxidation at 573° K.) decreases from19.9 to 2.0 m² g⁻¹ after three redox cycles. Fe-oxide (Mo, 3 mol %)preserved a high surface area of 14.9 m² g⁻¹ after three cycles.

Recently, Petkovich et al. used three-dimensionally ordered macroporous(3DOM) Ce_(1-x)Zr_(x)O₂ materials to enhance the kinetics and overallproduction of H₂ through a two-step water splitting process. Thesemicrostructures enjoy a large chemically active surface area which isfavorable for heterogeneous reactions. They have reported that a 3DOMCe_(1-x)Zr_(x)O₂ structure significantly increases kinetics during watersplitting compared to sintered, micrometer-sized CeO₂ particles. A fixedbed structure is used for their experiments at 825° C. Their structureswere reduced using hydrogen and oxidized using steam. The maximumhydrogen production rates were reported for different samples including3DOM CeO₂-PM, 3DOM CeO₂-MSS, 3DOM Ce_(0.8)Zr_(0.2)-PM, 3DOMCe_(0.8)Zr_(0.2)O₂-MSS, 3DOM Ce_(0.5)Zr_(0.5)O₂-PM,3DOM_(0.5)Ce_(0.5)Zr_(0.5)O₂-MSS-IH, and 3DOM Ce_(0.5)Zr_(0.5)O₂-MSS.The highest observed reaction rate is for the 3DOMCe_(0.5)Zr_(0.5)O₂-MSS sample. For this sample a rate of approximately18 cc/g_(material)·min (800 μmol·min⁻¹·g⁻¹) was observed for the firstoxidation cycle, and the rate dropped to 15 cc/g_(material)·min in cycle6,

FIG. 9 compares the peak hydrogen production rates with differentmaterials and structures reported in the literature. As describedearlier, the operational temperatures of some of the materials andstructures reported in FIG. 9 were limited to low temperatures due tothe sintering problem. Thus, a careful interpretation of the results isdesirable. It is observed that the peak hydrogen production rate for themagnetically stabilized structure is significantly higher than thosepreviously reported. More importantly, the magnetically stabilizedstructure is very stable upon successive cycling at temperatures as highas 800° C. Thus the magnetically stabilized structure is highlydesirable for hydrogen production using a two-step looping process. Dueto the high reactivity achieved with this structure, it may have broadapplicability for a variety of chemical reactions.

In this example, the process of synthesizing a highly reactivemagnetically stabilized porous structure is introduced, and thereactivity and stability of this structure is investigated for hydrogenproduction using a two-step iron based looping process. The resultsreveal that this porous structure has excellent reactivity and stabilityover 11 redox cycles. The peak hydrogen production rate for thisstructure is significantly higher than the best rate yet reported in theopen literature. The high reactivity and stability of the magneticallystabilized porous structure makes it well suited for chemical processingapplications.

Example 2

This example was conducted to demonstrate the manufacturing of themonolithic solid using activated carbon instead of silica. The activatedcarbon (second particle) is mixed into ferrite powder (first particle)and oxidized using either air or steam. In this manner, the activatedcarbon is converted from a solid to a gas, i.e., from carbon to carbondioxide. Since the activated carbon is all converted to carbon dioxideduring the oxidation, the resulting porous solid contains only theoxidized ferrite powder.

To test this approach, a 0.1 g sample of the activated carbon was testedin a thermogravimeter and oxidized using a flow of 10 cubic centimetersof air during a temperature ramp to 1000° C. at 5° C./min. The resultsof this test are seen in the FIG. 10 .

It can be seen above that the onset of oxidation occurs at approximately500° C. and rapid mass loss proceeds. While the FIG. 10 shows that 5%mass remains at the end of the cycle, this is in error due toinstabilities occurring at the beginning of the cycle. This is why thereis also a 5% decrease in weight at the beginning of the test. This isvalidated by the fact that at the end of the test, there was no materialleft in the crucible.

The procedure for making a porous structure (i.e., the monolithic solid)is as follows. Ferrite powder (crushed and sieved to 75 to 125micrometer size) and activated carbon (as received. Fisher Chemical,catalog number C272500) are mixed thoroughly together and placed into aquartz tube reactor. The mixture is then slowly heated (10° C./min)using an inert gas (Nitrogen/Argon) to 1000° C. The mixture is thenreduced using a reducing gas (5% H in Ar) to bring the ferrite powder toits lowest oxidation state. This procedure has no effect on theactivated carbon (already fully reduced). Following this, the powdersare then oxidized using steam at low flow rates at the same temperatureas reduction (1000-1200° C.). This allows for the oxidation of both theferrite powder (Fe to Fe₃O₄, Co to Co₃O₄) and the activated carbon (C toCO₂). However, since the activated carbon becomes a gas and the ferritepowder sinters, the resulting structure after oxidation is a porousmonolithic solid in a ferrite matrix. The voids exist where theactivated carbon once had been. Images of a resulting ACOS structure areshown below in FIG. 11 . The resulting porous sintered structure remainsstable after repeated oxidation and reduction cycles at temperatures upto 1500° C. Thus, this structure is very useful for a cyclical loopingprocess that requires thermal reduction at temperatures up to 1400° C.Such a looping process can be used to produce syngas by splitting waterand carbon dioxide using concentrated solar radiation in conjunctionwith the porous metal ferrite structure.

From this example, it may be seen that the second particle may beconsumed or converted during the formation of the monolithic solid. Thusthe monolithic solid may comprise a plurality of first particles thatare bonded together. In one embodiment, the second particles can beconsumed after the formation of the monolithic solid, leaving behind aporous monolithic solid that comprises only a plurality of firstparticles.

While the disclosure has been described with reference to exemplaryembodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art thatvarious changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted forelements thereof without departing from the scope of the disclosure. Inaddition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situationor material to the teachings of the disclosure without departing fromthe essential scope thereof. Therefore, it is intended that theinvention not be limited to the particular embodiment disclosed as thebest mode contemplated for carrying out this disclosure.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A monolithic solid comprising: a pluralityof second particles and a plurality of electrically aligned chains ormagnetically aligned chains comprising a plurality of fused first metalparticles, wherein the plurality of second particles is present betweenthe electrically aligned chains or magnetically aligned chains, whereinfirst metal particles are magnetic particles and the second particlesare not magnetic particles; wherein the first metal particles comprisean alloy magnet, wherein the alloy magnet does not include a rare earthmetal; wherein the first metal particles have an average particle sizeof about 40 micrometers to about 100 micrometers; wherein the secondparticles have an average particle size of about 20 micrometers to about100 micrometers.
 2. The monolithic solid of claim 1, wherein the firstmetal particles comprise iron, cobalt, nickel or a combinationcomprising at least one of iron, cobalt or nickel.
 3. The monolithicsolid of claim 1, wherein the alloy magnet comprises FeOFe₂O₃, NiOFe₂O₃,CuOFe₂O₃, MgOFe₂O₃, MnBi, MnSb, MnOFe₂O, or an alloy comprising theelements aluminum, iron, cobalt and nickel.
 4. The monolithic solid ofclaim 1, wherein the second particle comprises an inorganic oxide, aninorganic carbide, an inorganic oxycarbide, an inorganic nitride, aninorganic oxynitride, a polymer or a combination thereof.
 5. Themonolithic solid of claim 1, wherein the second particle is an inorganicoxide and is selected from the group consisting of silica, alumina,zirconia, titania, ceria, iron oxide, and a combination comprising atleast one of the foregoing inorganic oxides.
 6. The monolithic solid ofclaim 1, wherein the second particle comprises silica or activatedcarbon.
 7. The monolithic solid of claim 1, wherein the second particlehas bulk volume resistivity that is greater than about 1×10¹¹ ohm-cm. 8.The monolithic solid of claim 1, wherein the first metal particles havean average particle size of about 75 micrometers to about 90micrometers.
 9. The monolithic solid of claim 1, wherein the secondparticles have an average particle size of about 50 micrometers to about75 micrometers.
 10. The monolithic solid of claim 1, wherein themonolithic solid is produced from a mixture of first particles andsecond particles, wherein the first metal particles are from about 10 wt% to about 90 wt % of the mixture, and the second metal particles arefrom about 10 wt % to about 90 wt % of the mixture.
 11. The monolithicsolid of claim 10, wherein the first metal particles are from about 20wt % to about 50 wt % of the mixture.
 12. The monolithic solid of claim10, wherein the second particles are from about 50 wt % to about 80 wt %of the mixture.
 13. The monolithic solid of claim 10, wherein the secondparticles comprise silica or activated carbon having an average particlesize of about 50 micrometers to about 75 micrometers, wherein the secondparticles are from about 50 wt % to about 80 wt % of the mixture. 14.The monolithic solid of claim 10, wherein the second particles comprisesilica or activated carbon having an average particle size of about 40micrometers to about 100 micrometers, wherein the first particles arefrom about 10 wt % to about 90 wt % of the mixture.
 15. The monolithicsolid of claim 10, wherein the second particles comprise silica oractivated carbon having an average particle size of about 75 micrometersto about 90 micrometers, wherein the first particles are from about 20wt % to about 50 wt % of the mixture.
 16. An article comprising themonolithic solid of claim 1.